Day of the Doctor

Doctor Who is an obsession around our house.  Kalen and Taylor and Kendall especially are hooked on the show.  They watch every new episode and have watched pretty much every one of the old episodes from way back in the sixties up to the present season.  We had marked on our calendar for a very long time, the 50th anniversary of the show.  There was a special Doctor Who episode called "The Day of the Doctor" that was produced especially for the anniversary, and I don't think anything could have prevented them from watching it.    

Taylor and several of his sci fi geek friends and a teacher from the math and science center put together a Day of the Doctor party too.  Taylor designed pretzel rod sonic screwdrivers and set up games and activities for the evening.  And of course, he dressed up as his very favorite 10th Doctor for the occasion.

A Surprise Visitor

One morning the phone rang.  I saw that it was a Utah area code so I figured it was most likely a family member.  But the voice on the other end identified himself as Taylor Lyman, Kalen's old friend from Blanding.  I thought it was strange that he would call on a weekday when he knew that Kalen would most likely be at work.  But it turns out, he didn't want Kalen to know he was calling.  He was doing some training in Ohio (I think--somewhere south anyway) and asked if he could stop by on Friday night to surprise Kalen. How fun!  So I told the kids but swore them to secrecy. They had so much fun keeping it from Kalen all week. Kaya nearly let the cat out of the bag the day of the surprise, but fortunately Kalen didn't catch it.  It was so much fun when Kalen opened the door and just stood there, stunned, trying to process what Taylor Lyman was doing on our front porch!  They had a really nice visit before Taylor had to make the long drive back to Ohio. Hopefully it was worth the drive for him.  I know it totally made Kalen's weekend.

I seriously would have made Kalen change out of his grungy old work shirt if I could have thought up a reason that wouldn't have given up the surprise!

Halloween

In keeping with tradition, we opted to go for Halloween costumes with a theme again this year.  But since that can get pricey, we did a swap with my sister.  Their family was doing Harry Potter this year, so we were able to send them a few of our Harry Potter costumes from a few years ago and we decided to do Alice in Wonderland so that we could borrow a few of their costumes.  Taylor fought us like crazy about not wanting to participate, but in the end, he caved and did it with us (as usual).

But for the kids school parties, most of them opted to wear other costumes so that they could keep the other ones nice. (Okay, so Kaya could keep hers nice.  Kendall was just embarrassed to go to school with a furry rabbit hat and bunny tail and Spencer's caterpillar costume would have suffocated him indoors all day). This is actually the first year that I can remember our kids school letting them wear costumes to school for Halloween.  Typically they have a "Harvest Party" with Halloween treats and games but no costumes.  But this year they changed things and even did a costume parade and had area business come to the school so the kids could go trick or treating to them.

Kendall brought out his old chef costume, Kaya had a turn to wear Lynnsey's old Princess Leia dress, Spencer went in Kendall's old Wizard of Oz scarecrow costume, and Lynnsey went ahead and wore her Queen of Hearts outfit (I am so proud of the crown that I made to go with the dress!)

And Taylor, of course opted to go as Indiana Jones to school.

We had a great night at our branch Halloween party which thankfully this year took place before actual Halloween so we were able to dress up again and go out trick or treating so friends in town could see the costumes.

On Halloween, we headed over to the college for hot apple cider and cookie decorating and then student guides took us trick or treating to various dorms.  Then we hit the nearby "Faculty Ghetto" where many of Kalen's colleagues and friends of ours live.

Taylor as the March Hare, Kendall as the White Rabbit, Amy as the Cheshire Cat, Kalen as the Mad Hatter, Lynnsey as the Queen of Hearts, Spencer as the Caterpillar, and Kaya as Alice.

Now, what should we do for next year???